It's very rare to experience rain on a hike in Southern California. It was a good test for some old rain gear as well as some new. My 6 year old North Face jacket felt a bit clammy while my brand new Marmot Precip pants faired extremely well. I might consider the Precip jacket as a future purchase.

The hike was a super challenge being the first of the season for me. My legs are paying the price today.

Desptie the rain it was great to see the small waterfalls and all of the wildflowers in bloom. Yellows, blues, reds, and purples smattered the green foliage. It's too bad it will all turn yellow and brown in a few months.

The best treat was spotting pairs of Mountain Quail at several locations on the trail including the summit. In my twenty-seven years of hiking Southern California mountains, this was my first sighting of these big birds. The rain this season must be great for the wildlife.

Lastly, the road through the canyon was a good test for my virgin 4Runner. I'm very pleased with the X-REAS suspension system. The deep ruts and water crossings made the car approach and exit a lot of fun. Can you tell I'm a gear-head?

We picked maybe a crumby day to climb. It rained all the way to the top, and by the top we were soaked and the wind made it very cold. No views at the top because of complete cloud cover. But it is beautiful to see all the flowers and occasional glimpses down in the canyons filled with fog. Lots mudslides and downed trees along Truck Trail. No cars are going up that way any time soon. Made it in 8 hours. All in all it was a fun trip. Got to do some hiking in wet conditions and got plenty of miles under our legs.

Great day for a hike. Had the mountain to myself. I was surprised by the amount of rain damage at Bear Spring and on the Main Divide Truck Road (landslides). From Bear Spring I went up the truck road, but came down the upper trail section on my way down. The upper trail section once again had some minor damage due to the last storm. No snow on top, but some ice was melting and falling from the radio towers. Unfortunately, clouds came in and obstructed the views, but I enjoyed seeing the wildflowers and wildlife. Had a bobcat cross the road about 30 feet in front of me about half a mile from the top.

This turned out to be the weekend that the Warriors held their annual race from Black Star canyon and then out through the trail they maintain, Holy Jim. There was a lot of action out there. Almost all of the mountain bikers that we encountered were extremely friendly considering they were racing and we were slowing them down. Most of the bikers made comments like, good to see you out here using the trail.

One comment on the route description, the Warriors were using the upper section for their race, and so it was in very good condition. We had two route variations on the way. We went to the waterfall and then took a steep route up from there to the main trail. It was really steep, and towards the end more of an animal trail. It was a strenuous ~25 minutes and avoided ~45 minutes of trail. The second variation was to take the main divide road after the first stretch of Holy Jim Trail (there were just too many mountain bikers at this point). It had four sections that were either washed out or covered by huge landslides. The summit was uneventful since it was cloud covered almost all day. On the way down, we took upper Holy Jim trail. It was a lot more scenic entertaining that the road was on the way up.

Hike this one for conditioning, 15 miles round trip and good elevation. Holy jim trail is very well kept, and you can often find someone to join you to the top, ( or a biker, dont ask me why they bother, its hike-a-bike )

Seems like I've been up here often lately. Went up Holy Jim to Main Divide and followed the road to the top. Lots of mountain bikers out today. Came down the road, picked up the upper section of the Holy Jim Trail for the trip down to Bear Springs. The trail here was in better condition than I had remembered it. Ran the Main Divide east to the Trabuco Trail and followed it back down to the Holy Jim Trailhead.

Ran the route up Harding this morning to the top. It was chilly in spots (high 30s by my estimate). Clouds obscured most views towards the ocean. Quite a few mountain bikers making the top today but just three of us shared the top at the same time.

First summit actually reached. It was a nice and cool day, but there weren't many people out at all. It's possible they're all still shaken up about the mountain lion attacks last week. Unfortunately for me, everything was horribly hazy and I couldn't really see anything from the peak, but it was worth it all the same.

Did a round trip run up the Maple Springs - Main Divide Truck Trail route on a very nice day. With cool air and good views I made the round trip in 3:50. Lots of people out enjoying the mountain today via various routes. This route opened up on 10/7 but will probably close again in April for species protection.

Well, I don't consider this a legal summit for me since it was via a mt. bike. I usually only sign if it is summited by non-mechanical means, but thought this might be useful for those headed out anyway. See my trip report.

Bagging this peak completed one of my personal goals of doing the five highest peaks in five different counties which are all visible from where I live. There is a great view from the top but it was heavily inhabited by flies.

Started off with Sun in the canyon, but clounds on the peak. We were hoping they would blow off, but they did not, so we missed out on the views BUT we did hit snow - 4-5 inches above 5000 ft, which is very rare for this mountain.

This is a long hike - 16mi and 4,000ft through typical So. Cal chaparral. The views were fine except for the radio installations. A very popular trail with mountain bikers I found out. Day 4 of the SoCal County Highpoint Tour